A new report from the Pew Research Center shows that the audience for news outlets is becoming increasingly polarized by political belief, more evidence that media companies are tailoring their message for one side above another. Except NPR, which — despite the claims of some that they’re lefty — has an amazing equality of audience: 31% conservative, 33% moderate, 30% liberal.
Despite their claim to be “balanced,” Fox News garners an audience that’s 52% conservative and only 13% liberal.
CNN brings in 36% conservative and 20% liberal viewers. MSNBC, CBS, NBC, and ABC all have an audience that’s 33% conservative.
What’s more interesting is that more and more Republicans don’t trust the media:
Republicans have come to distrust the media in greater numbers since President Bush took office, says a new poll released yesterday, while Democratic views are mostly unchanged.
Only about half as many Republicans as Democrats find the usual media suspects credible, says the Pew Research Center, including the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, CBS, ABC, NBC, National Public Radio and PBS’s “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”
It’s almost funny — a media outlet like Fox News is so skewed to the right, and yet only 29% of Republicans find Fox News credible. I suppose it’s because they can’t avoid covering some of these stories, even though they question the Bush administration’s actions (however slightly).
I guess that a certain level of denial is necessary to continue being a good Republican — if one were to acknowledge the various activities of the party and it’s leaders, it would be awfully hard for a thoughtful, intelligent person to continue supporting it. So it’s just easier to not believe all those ridiculous stories that are coming out about Bush and his gang… and frankly, sometimes it’s hard to believe even when it’s so obviously true.
